Young woman sues Grok: Stepfather created 7,000 sexual images of her as a child

A young woman from Wyoming is suing Elon Musk's xAI, claiming that her stepfather used the chatbot to create sexual images of her based on everyday photos taken when she was a minor.

"Unfettered access to these tools is spreading rapidly, — she told The Washington Post. — It takes normal photos from everyday life and turns them into child sexual abuse material."

Earlier this year, Elon Musk and Grok were embroiled in a scandal after it was revealed that the chatbot complied with user requests on X (formerly Twitter) to turn ordinary photos of people into sexual images. Among other things, Grok created images of real teenage girls in bikinis or depicted a pre-teen boy in minimal clothing. Elon Musk initially claimed he was unaware of such images, but after significant public pressure, X blocked the ability to ask Grok to create such content. The European Union has opened an investigation into the matter.

Now, a Washington Post report reveals the severe personal consequences of the conduct of Elon Musk's companies. According to the report, federal agents executed a search warrant on the plaintiff's stepfather's devices, uncovering 7,000 sexual images of her as a child, some in full nudity, which the father created with Grok and sold online. In one case, he took a photo taken when she was 11, where she is lying on the couch in a T-shirt, and turned it into an explicit sexual image with the caption "Stepfather rapes her." The stepfather committed suicide two days later.

According to the plaintiff, since the police raid, her life has changed beyond recognition; she began therapy to cope with trauma and returned to work as a nurse to support her widowed mother.

"I live it every day, — she told The Washington Post. — I would be lying if I said I wasn't very suicidal."

In July, the young woman joined a federal lawsuit filed in March by three teenagers from Tennessee against xAI, claiming that pedophiles used Grok to generate images of them taken when they were younger. They are seeking to have their lawsuit certified as a class action on behalf of all minors whose photos were altered into sexual images using xAI. xAI, which was folded into SpaceX in February, did not respond to the report. At the end of July, xAI sued Minnesota over a landmark law that prohibits the distribution of AI-generated sexual images of people without the consent of those depicted.